Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/449

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435

GRIFFITHS—GRINDRED—GRINT—GROOM.

in the Caledonia 120, flag-ship of Sir Edw. Pellew, Fame 74, Capt. Walter Bathurst, Unité 36, Capt. Edwin Henry Chamberlayne, Cerberus 32, Capt. Henry Whitby, and Cambrian 40, Capt. Chas. Bullen. In April, 1812, he rejoined Capt. Whitby on board the Briton 38, at Chatham, whence he almost immediately sailed for North America, as Midshipman, in the Tenedos 38, Capt. Hyde Parker, under whom we find him, in Jan. 1815, witnessing the capture of the U.S. frigate President. From Oct. in the latter year until Feb. 1818, Mr. Griffiths, with the exception of a few months at Portsmouth, was employed, at Plymouth, on board the Ramillies 74, Malta 84, and Rivoli and Melville 74’s, Capts. Chas. Ogle, Aiskew Paffard Hollis, and Henry Chas. Pemberton. He then proceeded to the West Indies in the Drake sloop, Capt. Henry Shiffner; and was afterwards, during the years 1819-23, attached to Capt. Parry’s polar expeditions, in the Griper brig, Lieut.-Commander Matthew Liddon, and Hecla bomb, Capt. Geo. Fras. Lyon. Since the attainment of his present rank, 13 Nov. 1823, Lieut. Griffiths has been on half-pay.



GRIFFITHS. (Commander, 1846.)

William Tomlin Griffiths is son of the late Lieut.-Gen. J. Griffiths.

This officer entered the Navy 29 Jan. 1814; passed his examination in 1821; and obtained his first commission 16 Aug. 1825. His subsequent appointments were – 17 Dec. 1826 and 12 April, 1830, to the Rifleman 18, and Samarang 28, Capts. Fred. Thos. Michell and Wm. Fanshawe Martin, on the Mediterranean station – 2 April, 1833, after an interval of more than two years, to the Donegal 78, Capt. Arthur Fanshawe, off Lisbon – 8 May, 1833, and 21 March, 1834, to the Britannia 120, Capt. Peter Rainier, and Barham 50, Capt. Hugh Pigot, again in the Mediterranean, whence he came home shortly after joining the latter ship – 13 Jan. 1837, again to the Britannia, bearing the flag at Portsmouth of Sir Philip Chas. Durham, with whom he served until the summer of 1838 – and 29 June, 1843, to the Penelope steam-vessel, Capt. Wm. Jones, employed on particular service. He was superseded in the following Sept.; and, on 9 Nov. 1846, was advanced to his present rank.

Commander Griffiths married, 17 Nov. 1831, Louisa Catherine, daughter of the late J. Griffiths, Esq., of Argyll Street, London. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.



GRINDRED. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 10; h-p., 32.)

John Grindred entered the Navy, 28 June, 1805, as A.B., on board the Atlas 74, Capt. Sam. Pym, under whom, after serving for some time with the flag of Sir John Thos. Duckworth, he fought in the action off St. Domingo, 6 Feb. 1806. In July of that year he joined the Colossus 74, bearing the flag off Lisbon of Earl St. Vincent; and he next, from Jan. 1807 until Oct. 1811, performed the duties of Midshipman and Master’s Mate in the Terrible and Namur 74’s, flag-ships of Lord Collingwood and Sir Rich. John Strachan, off Cadiz, Toulon, and Sheerness. Until confirmed in his present rank, 28 Sept. 1815, Mr. Grindred was subsequently employed, alternately as Master’s Mate and Acting-Lieutenant, in the Trinculo sloop, Namur again, Capt. Alex. Shippard, Raleigh, Namur, and Rifleman, flag-ships in the North Sea of Rear-Admiral Thos. Williams, and Star, bearing the broad pendant of Sir Jas. Lucas Yeo on Lake Ontario. In Aug. 1814, while detached from the latter vessel, he obtained the particular mention of Capt. Alex. Dobbs, his commanding officer, for his gallant conduct at the capture on Lake Erie of the American armed schooners Ohio and Somers, and his skill in carrying one of them into the Niagara, through shoals and rapids, and under a constant and heavy fire.[1] The British on this occasion, who numbered only 75, and were altogether inferior in force to the enemy, sustained a loss of 2 men killed and 4 wounded.

Lieut. Grindred has not been afloat since his promotion. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.



GRINT. (Commander, 1818. f-p., 14; h-p., 33.)

William Grint entered the Navy, 1 Nov. 1800, as Sec.-cl. Vol., on board the Zephyr 14, Capts. Wm. Burgundy Champain and Clotworthy Upton, of which vessel, stationed in the Baltic and North Sea, he soon became Midshipman. We are informed that on 2 April, 1801, he fought at Copenhagen on board the Amazon 38, Capt. Henry Riou. In Oct. 1803, after having served for exactly two years, on the Home and West India stations, in the Glatton 54, Capt. John Ferris Devonshire, and the Achille and Courageux 74’s, in the latter of which he appears to have witnessed the surrender of Ste. Lucie, he joined the Britannia 100, Capt. (afterwards Rear-Admiral) the Earl of Northesk, under whom he was wounded at the battle of Trafalgar, 21 Oct. 1805.[2] Removing, as Master’s Mate, in May, 1806, to the Latona 38, Capt. Jas. Athol Wood, Mr. Grint was next present at the celebrated capture of Curaçoa, 1 Jan. 1807, on which occasion he was invested with the rank of Acting-Lieutenant. He was confirmed, 27 July following, into the Anson 44,[3] Capts. Fred. Langford and Chas. Lydiard, and afterwards appointed, on the Channel and Cadiz stations – 10 March and 28 Sept. 1808, to the Vulture and Hope sloops, both commanded by Capt. Joseph Pearce – 3 Nov. 1810, to the Pompée 74, Capt. J. A. Wood – 20 Nov. 1811, to the Zenobia sloop, Capts. Alex. Rich. Mackenzie and Rich. Foley – and, in July, 1814, to the command, for a few weeks, of No. 1 gun-boat. He attained the rank of Commander 7 Dec. 1818; but has not since been employed.

Commander Grint has had the honour of receiving a gratuity from the Patriotic Fund. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.



GROOM. (Lieut., 1823. f-p., 13; h-p., 24)

John Groom was born in April, 1797. He is nephew, maternally, of the late Roger Sutton, Esq., uncle of Admiral Sir John Sutton, K.C.B.

This officer entered the Navy, 8 Dec. 1810, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Vengeance 74, Capt. Thos. Brown, flag-ship in the Channel and off Lisbon of the late Sir Joseph Sydney Yorke. He next joined in succession the Bulwark 74, bearing the broad pendant of Sir Rich. King, and, as Midshipman, the Loire 38, Capt. Brown. In the autumn of 1814, while absent in a prize – the second with which he had been intrusted – Mr. Groom had the misfortune to he himself captured by the Americans, who detained him a prisoner until the end of the war. He then joined the Tonnant 80, bearing the flag of Sir Alex. Cochrane, and before long sailed for China in the Horatio 38, Capt. Wm. Henry Dillon. Passing his examination in Jan. 1817, he next served, between April, 1818, and the date of his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant 22 Oct. 1823, on the East India, Home, and West India stations, part of the time as Acting-Lieutenant, in the Phaeton 46, Capts. W. H. Dillon, Sir Wm. Augustus Montagu, and Henry Evelyn Pitfield Sturt, Bustard 10, Capt. Rawdon Maclean, and Eden 26, Capt. John Lawrence. He continued to be employed in the latter ship until Jan. 1825. He then invalided, and has since been on half-pay. On 25 July, 1834, he was nominated First of the Malabar 74, Capt. Sir W. A. Montagu; but, his health at the time preventing the possibility of his joining, the appointment was cancelled.

Lieut. Groom, prior to his promotion, appears to have been in the enjoyment of a small pension for injuries received in the service. Agent – J. Chippendale.


  1. Vide Gaz. 1814, p. 2036.
  2. Vide Gaz. 1805, p. 1484.
  3. The Anson was totally wrecked in Mount’s Bay in Dec. 1807, but Mr. Grint, on the occasion of the catastrophe, had the good fortune to be absent in a prize.